From the 2006 News Archive

Maryland Graduates Earn Outstanding 2006 Bar Exam Results

After months of studying, waiting, and hoping, the results are in! Eighty-eight percent of the School of Law's graduates taking the Maryland State Bar Exam in July passed on their first attempt, compared to an eighty-one percent passage rate for all first-time takers. The passage rate for all Maryland graduates taking the exam was eighty-two percent, significantly surpassing the overall passage rate of seventy percent.

While not a test about how much law a student knows, the Bar Exam tests a future attorney's ability to analyze, recognize and intelligibly discuss legal problems, and to apply their knowledge of legal principles to their solutions. Passing the Bar Exam, however, is only one step in becoming admitted to the Maryland State Bar as a practicing attorney.

Before taking the exam, the law student must apply to take the exam and prove they are eligible by providing affidavits to their legal education, submitting to a background check, and undergoing a character review. After their application is approved, the student must then decide when they want to take the test, and submit a petition for their preferred test date. After taking and passing the exam, the State Board of Law Examiners files a report with the Maryland Court of Appeals of the names of the successful candidates, and the Board's recommendation for admission. Once the court has ratified the Board's report, the candidates must then attend a mandatory course on professionalism before being admitted to practice law.